KOHALA COAST — For David Wild, the eve of Ironman 70.3 Hawaii feels like the first day of school.
Appropriate, for the Konawaena math teacher and standout Kealakekua triathlete.
“It’s always an exciting time,” Wild said. “You can feel the energy the closer you get to the race venue. I’m all giddy and stoked to put it all out there.”
The race — also known as Honu — starts at 6:30 a.m. today and consists of a 1.2-mile open ocean swim at Hapuna Beach State Park, a 56-mile out-and-back bike on the northern half of the Ironman World Championship course to Hawi, and wraps up with a 13.1-mile, two-loop run, finishing at the Fairmont Orchid’s Honu Pointe.
Wild has had resounding success at his backyard half-Ironman event since his debut in 2015, garnering top local finisher honors the past three years. He said the 70.3-mile trek — which will include close to 1,600 athletes from around the globe — is equal parts scenic and brutal.
“It’s not for the faint of heart,” Wild said. “I think it’s one of the hardest half-Ironman races out there — at least top four or five. The fact that the bike is on a part of the Ironman (World Championship) course, combined with the gnarly, unpredictable predictions and a super hot run makes it so Big Island. It’s raw and you really have to want to do it.”
In the race’s 15-year existence, some of the biggest names in the sport have claimed the top overall crown on the Kohala Coast. Ironman World Champions Craig Alexander, Chris McCormack, Tim DeBoom and Pete Jacobs all have finished first, while well-known cyclist Lance Armstrong also claimed the title back in 2012.
But in 2015, the race decided to shift the focus to its age-group athletes, eliminating a pro field.
The heated competition has remained and is expected to be at an all-time high this weekend with a slew of slots to the 70.3 World Championship and the Ironman World Championship up for grabs.
There will be 30 slots available to the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa in September, and a total of 48 to October’s Ironman World Championship in Kona. Of the 48 slots, 24 are reserved exclusively for Hawaii residents who finish as the top Aloha State athlete in their age group.
Wild is in the competitive 30-34 age group, and as much as he’s excited to see his Hawaii tri brethren, it’s game on once the opening horn sounds.
“It will have some more gravity to it this year, that’s for sure,” Wild said. “When I finish, there’s always a feeling that I could have improved. I want to walk away this year feeling like I did everything I could.”
Wild has earned his slot in the 70.3 world championships before, racing as recently as last year in the Chattanooga, Tennessee edition of the event. But qualifying for Kona would be a bucket-list accomplishment for Wild, who is still seeking to lock up his first spot on the starting line in Kona.
“That’s the dream, man,” Wild said. “If I can do it, it’d be awesome.”
Just keep swimming
As it did last year, the event will utilize a rolling swim start within the age groups, with a buzzer every five seconds signaling the athletes — who self-seeded based on perceived finishing time — to enter the water.
It’s meant to increase safety, reduce anxiety and allow athletes to swim at their own pace. It also opens up the bike segment of the race, reducing drafting and — again — making it safer.
“It was a calm start instead of this mass blunder of arms and legs everywhere,” Wild said. “You jump in line and find your rhythm.”
One more thing it does is force the finish-line crowd to hold the applause. With athletes self-seeding in the swim — coupled with the age groups starting at different times — the first athlete that hits Honu Pointe isn’t necessarily the top overall finisher (which is usually celebrated by breaking through a banner and with lei).
For athletes, catching glimpses of their competition at various points on the course is no longer a foolproof way to measure leads. Some on-the-fly math is required, and luckily for Wild, he’s a math whiz.
“Trying to figure out where you are can be really difficult,” Wild said with a laugh. “But doing the math in my head helps pass the time.”
The air up there
While some of the talk has been about “swim, bike and run” leading up to the race, the main conversation-starter has been the conditions and air pollution concerns connected to the Kilauea lava eruptions on the southeast part of the island.
The race, however, has a bright green light to go.
“We are looking forward to a great race with clear blue skies,” Ironman spokesman Dan Berglund said earlier this week. “We are aware and have been continuously monitoring the volcano activity on the east side of the island of Hawaii and subsequent potential impacts to the west side of the island.”
Ironman has supplied information to out-of-town athletes via social media and its website that the areas impacted by the volcanic activity are limited to lower Puna and are not near the race site.
Ross Birch, executive director of the Island of Hawaii Visitors Bureau, said athletes will be traveling north during the race, away from potential air quality hazards. However, he said there were no air quality monitors north of Kona, and that it would be helpful if there were.
“It’s a day-by-day situation,” he said. “The volcano is like that as well. We don’t have a long forecast of what the tradewinds might do, and we don’t know where the vog might end up going. Who knows how long the ash plumes will continue as well?”
Wild, who trains in Kona, said the effects have been minimal during his preparations
“I feel lucky I don’t have asthma and I’m not super sensitive to it,” Wild said. “There’s nothing telling me not to train, but that might just be because I’m stubborn.”
Wind could be a helpful factor in keeping the vog at bay, but it would be both a blessing and a curse. The bike portion of the race has a reputation for being very tough when there are gusty conditions up north.
“If there is wind, you have to stay focused,” Wild said. “It puts you on edge, but you have to be calm and in control.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report